Veracity Of Parliamentary Answers (No. 2)

EDM number 957 in 1993-94, proposed by Llew Smith on 25/03/1994.

That this House welcomes the admission by the Minister for Open Government that ministers do give inaccurate answers to Parliament; condemns however, the Minister for misleading public and Press in his assertions that such replies are only given in very limited circumstances such as the run up to devaluation, when the country is at war or during delicate diplomatic negotiations; draws attention to the following instances of ministers being inexact to Parliament: on 13th November 1989, Official Report, column 1, the honourable Member for Wokingham, as Minister of State at the Department of Trade and Industry said of the allegation that the Matrix-Churchill company was supplying the Iraqi war machine 'I have no reason to believe that the company has contravened UK export controls', despite the fact that the Right honourable Member for Bristol West had written to the Department of Trade and Industry on 6th September 1989 stating 'we know from secret sources, that contrary to the assurances of the manufacturer, its high technology machine tools have been shipped to Iraqi munitions establishments' and on 3rd November 1993, Official Report, column 239, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs said, when asked by the honourable Member for Blaenau Gwent whether the decision to grant support to the Pergau Dam was linked to any other bilateral trade agreement with Malaysia, simply quoted 'no' and the Foreign Secretary has subsequently contradicted this in evidence before the Foreign Affairs Committee; and calls upon Her Majesty's Government to make it its policy to make every effort to give accurate information to Parliament in all occasions.

This motion has been signed by a total of 51 MPs.